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2020 Toyota Supra 3.0 Premium at Lightning Lap 2019
Toyota's revived sports car is in its element at VIR, and it is capable of thrilling your inner child.
Lap Time: 3:01.4
Class: LL2 | Base: $54,945 | As-Tested: $56,140
Power and Weight: 335 hp • 3372 lb • 10.1 lb/hp
Tires: Michelin Pilot Super Sport, F:255/35ZR-19 (96Y) R: 275/35ZR-19 (100Y)
If the Mazda Miata is a pair of training wheels for track newbies, the Toyota Supra is the big-kid bike that hones fine motor skills. It drives with a back-to-basics purity that is easily controlled but not exactly forgiving. With enough torque to spin the car in any corner and handling that's as neutral as Switzerland, the Supra doesn't suffer fools gladly. Either you learn to move your hands and feet in unison or you'll eat turf and tire wall.
The Supra is in its element on every inch of the Grand Course's 4.1 miles, but nowhere more so than on the final third of the track. The infield through Hog Pen is a series of sweeping combinations that could be described as a bunch of freeway on-ramps stitched together. Through those sections, a steering wheel cuts back and forth like a low-frequency pendulum, never really settling in one direction.
The Toyota skates from track edge to track edge with the deftness of a lighter car. Slightly soft by today's standards, the suspension moves around under duress, but the amount of squish and bounce communicates to the driver how close you are to the limit in a way the steering doesn't. That said, you can consistently steer the Toyota with precise throttle control, a key advantage in this section of the track.
A 3:01.4 lap punches above the Supra's pounds-per-horsepower ratio, landing amid 500-hp giants including the 2006 Corvette Z06 and Viper SRT10. In the 13 years of Lightning Lap, only two cars have run faster with less power: the Ariel Atom 3 and the KTM X-Bow, which are essentially full-size go-karts with fun-size curb weights. And yet, the Supra is just as capable of thrilling your inner child as either of them. Master the Supra's balance and you'll rediscover youthful joy.
Full lightning lap competition results: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a29392932/lightning-lap-2019/
Toyota's revived sports car is in its element at VIR, and it is capable of thrilling your inner child.
Lap Time: 3:01.4
Class: LL2 | Base: $54,945 | As-Tested: $56,140
Power and Weight: 335 hp • 3372 lb • 10.1 lb/hp
Tires: Michelin Pilot Super Sport, F:255/35ZR-19 (96Y) R: 275/35ZR-19 (100Y)
If the Mazda Miata is a pair of training wheels for track newbies, the Toyota Supra is the big-kid bike that hones fine motor skills. It drives with a back-to-basics purity that is easily controlled but not exactly forgiving. With enough torque to spin the car in any corner and handling that's as neutral as Switzerland, the Supra doesn't suffer fools gladly. Either you learn to move your hands and feet in unison or you'll eat turf and tire wall.
The Supra is in its element on every inch of the Grand Course's 4.1 miles, but nowhere more so than on the final third of the track. The infield through Hog Pen is a series of sweeping combinations that could be described as a bunch of freeway on-ramps stitched together. Through those sections, a steering wheel cuts back and forth like a low-frequency pendulum, never really settling in one direction.
The Toyota skates from track edge to track edge with the deftness of a lighter car. Slightly soft by today's standards, the suspension moves around under duress, but the amount of squish and bounce communicates to the driver how close you are to the limit in a way the steering doesn't. That said, you can consistently steer the Toyota with precise throttle control, a key advantage in this section of the track.
A 3:01.4 lap punches above the Supra's pounds-per-horsepower ratio, landing amid 500-hp giants including the 2006 Corvette Z06 and Viper SRT10. In the 13 years of Lightning Lap, only two cars have run faster with less power: the Ariel Atom 3 and the KTM X-Bow, which are essentially full-size go-karts with fun-size curb weights. And yet, the Supra is just as capable of thrilling your inner child as either of them. Master the Supra's balance and you'll rediscover youthful joy.
Full lightning lap competition results: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a29392932/lightning-lap-2019/
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